New student visa system turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK

New student visa system turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK: http://t.co/JMjFPVLQ reports @wdjstraw

The new student visa system is turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK: http://t.co/r4rg31ZY

New student visa system turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK http://t.co/DW6EwJLY

The new student visa system is turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK: http://t.co/r4rg31ZY

RT @leftfootfwd: New student visa system turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK http://t.co/6WNu5zvA – good article, spot on!

New student visa system turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK http://t.co/W1ADYApo (Google Alerts)

http://t.co/4WIyRrbr New student visa system turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK http://t.co/dTpC7WSI

http://t.co/NSnWhquQ New student visa system turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK http://t.co/Ygs8nyAG

New student visa system turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK: http://t.co/JMjFPVLQ reports @wdjstraw

The new student visa system is turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK: http://t.co/r4rg31ZY

If the writer knew more about what really goes on with the visa system, the piece might have been better.

Firstly, there are many cases over several years – reported and unreported – where bogus colleges were found guilty of shipping in many thousands of ‘students’ each year, most of whom went AWOL within weeks. We all know that the Border Agency can’t find them once they’ve gone underground, and the reported cases are only the tip of a very large iceberg.

Nor are our legitimate, state-funded universities and colleges guilt-free, even though they are given the benefit of the doubt and a light-touch audit by the UK Border Agency.

Even reputedly ‘elite’ institutions have recruitment and attendance issues with their foreign students, many of whom also have little intention to study conscientiously. In their case, it’s not because the institutions are fake education providers, but the Home Office Tier 4 Sponsor Management system is totally unwieldy and unfit for purpose. A nightmare to administer, costly and inefficient. The University of Wales has recently suffered the consequences of mis-managing its overseas students and has lost its university status as a result.

The students who take advantage of this situation in our better universities just happen to have rich enough parents to pay for them to enrol at institutions where they can come and go as they please without much interference from the UK border authorities. As in so many other things, money gets you pretty much anything you want.

So what’s the answer?
UK universities have painted themselves into a corner by becoming so dependent on foreign income, and aided by successive governments who have underfunded education on all levels. They also expanded too quickly in the 1990s and now we have over-capacity.

As difficult as this situation may be for the higher education sector, it is time to accept that we cannot sustain this house of cards. It’s not only a matter of visas and errant students, but poor business management to rely so heavily on foreign income when we live in such a competitive world of market forces.

Far from making the visa system easier, we need more rigorous entrance requirements in terms of academic ability, English ability and a stricter attendance & monitoring system. Then we can make sure that the thousands of students allowed to study here are genuine and will return home after their studies.

If we make access to our education system harder, it will be valued more and can only gain in stature. It should therefore be a sensible long-term strategy for growth and income, not ‘give-us-your-money-now’ and you’re in.

“Firstly, there are many cases”

The system Labour brought in has that under control.

“They also expanded too quickly in the 1990s and now we have over-capacity.”

UK rates of graduation have shrunk over the last decade and half, and are now dangerously low for a first-world nation, and are set to plunge further. There is a multi-party failure of vision here.

“Far from making the visa system easier, we need more rigorous entrance requirements in terms of academic ability, English ability and a stricter attendance & monitoring system.”

Costing us billions, and losing many of the skilled teachers, who will not become immigration cops.

“If we make access to our education system harder, it will be valued more and can only gain in stature.”

We already have a world-class university system. Well, it’s being dismantled, but we did. Making it simply hard to access means that other universities in Europe, many of whom charge lower fees and teach in English, will benefit at Britain’s expense.

Why do you hate Britain that much?
(Hint: If people want to spend money here, it’s smart to let them too!)

Under control? Unfortunately not. I’ve worked in higher education, further education and independent education for over 15 years, so I have direct experience.

Your ‘rates of graduation’ comment reinforces my point about too much expansion (creating over-capacity) at the expense of quality. Lots more start degree programmes than pre-1992, but fewer complete and graduate by comparison.

Where are your ‘costing us billions’ figures coming from? You say ‘teachers’ and ‘immigration cops’, but university lecturers don’t do the initial selection or subsequent monitoring, so I’m not clear what you mean. Are you a teacher or lecturer? Doesn’t sound like it to me.

As for the final points, you don’t make any sense, and the fact that you’ve ended your sentence with ‘too’ instead of ‘to’ shows me that you’re only semi-literate yourself.

Stick to what you know and don’t get out of your depth.

RT @leftfootfwd: New student visa system turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK http://t.co/h5mMjnjO

I find it absolutely extraordinary that the government is prepared to relax worker’s rights, environmental regulations ETC in the name of cutting red tape, yet their restrictive immigration rules aren’t on the table. Double standards?

what the hell is over-capacity. Modern Unis are not medieval monasteries nor they will prosper if someone try to run it like elitist schools.

If you don’t know what overcapacity is, why are you even bothering to comment?
It means they built bigger facilities and now they can’t fill them.
Nothing to do with ‘elitist’.

Idiot.

Now gov don’t have money to spend.if gov wand money to spend they have to get the tax from people.
for that some way people of uk have to spend money.
when they stop one money flow they have to think other money flow
other money source is increase the tax
yes increase the tax …………………

Sadly its the same for students from many third world countries in many western countries. They aren’t studying abroad just for the sake of studying abroad but as a way to hopefully move to the west.
That is what truly attracts people.
And lol at the image, cutting out northern Ireland like that…

“That is what truly attracts people”

Right, don’t need no stinking blackies crowding up tha place!

Hello, PAYING. UNIVERSITY. STUDENTS.

Oh of course. Same for the drug laws.

[...] also: • New student visa system turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK – Will Straw, November 18th [...]